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LAWRENCE  J.  GUTTER 

Collection  of  Chicogoono 

THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   ILLINOIS 
AT  CHICAGO 

The  University  Library 


5o  ttye  public 


9  HE  Division  of  the  City  of  Chicago  lying  north 
of  the  river,  and  known  as  the  "North  Side," 
is  considered  by  residents  and  visitors  alike  as 
]•  containing  more  of  interest  to  those  who  cherish 
the  quaint  landmarks  of  earlier  daysj  than  any 
other  section.  Beside  having  the  advantage  of 
close  proximity  to  the  business  district,  it  has 
the  prestige  and  historic  importance  of  having 
been  the  site  on  which  the  pioneers  of  the  city 
and  the  great  northwest  first  congregated.  The  ground  was  the 
highest  hereabouts,  and  from  the  Indian  hut,  which  was  the  early 
nucleus,  has  grown  the  collossal  city  of  which  every  Chicagoan  is 
justly  proud.  And  this  section,  too,  has  steadily  maintained  its 
position  in  the  general  development,  its  last  great  improvement 
bein^  its  cable  car  system,  which  has  no  superior  anywhere. 
Its  good  effect,  in  fact,  has  already  been  materially  felt,  yet 
there  are  still  greater  benefits  in  store  for  the  people,  which  will 
be  the  more  thoroughly  appreciated  as  the  disadvantages  of  new- 
ness of  construction  gradually  disappear,  and  the  feeling  of  oppo- 
sition sought  to  be  engendered  by  certain  public  prints  has  lost  its 
force  and  been  forgotten. 

It  is  a  part  of  the  history  of  all  new  enterprises  that  they 
have  attracted  a  large  share  of  public  attention,  and  more  or  less 
of  criticism.  From  the  building  of  the  Tower  of  Babel  down 
to  the  smallest  of  modern  engineering  or  constructive  triumphs, 
there  have  been  many  to  criticise  and  condemn;  and,  as  a  rule, 
those  knowing  the  least  have  generally  been  found  to  be  the  most 
captious  and  severe.  It  is  probably  unreasonable  to  expect  that 
such  criticisms  should  always  be  fair,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  next 
to  impossible  for  any  two  minds  to  see  the  same  object  alike;  but 
however  adverse  a  critic  may  feel,  there  ought  to  be  with  it  all  a 


2 


spirit   of    sincerity  and  candor,  which  is  the  natural  adjunct  of 
honesty  of  purpose.     The  facts  are,  nevertheless,  that  such  is  not 
always   the   case,  and   cannot   be  until  human 
selfishness  yields  to  higher  and  nobler  instincts, 
and  until  truth   becomes   closer   allied   to   the 
consciences  of  that  class  in  the  world  which  so 
uniformly  fails  to  discover  anything  of  good  in 
the  endeavor  of  others.      The  North  Chicago 
Street  Railroad  Company  has  for  several  years 
The  Critic— From  ^a(l  a  Pecunar  experience,  and  has  grown  to  its 
Life.  present  magnitude  and  success  through  a  maze 

of  falsehood,  and  despite  the  persistent  industry  of  a  criticism 
strange  to  integrity  of  intention,  and  foreign  to  anything  akin 
to  a  spirit  of  common  fairness. 

The  daily  News  has  been  a  shining  example  of  the  sordid  and 
carping  critic  alluded  to,  and  this  much  can  be  said  without  apology 
or  fear  of  contradiction.  Since  the  day  the  company  and  the 
property  in  question  passed  into  its  present  control,  this  particular 
publication  has  never  missed  an  opportunity  to  pervert  and  distort 
the  truth,  and  to  magnify  and  embellish  falsehood  in  referring  to 
it  and  its  interests.  Starting  to  criticise,  it  very  rapidly  developed 
into  an  organ  of  malignant  abuse,  and  it  has  never  deviated  from 
its  line  of  policy  long  enough  to  be  even  suspected  of  a  disposition 
to  be  just.  While  the  other  papers  have  deprecated  whatever 
shortcomings  there  have  been,  and  at  times,  through  ignorance  of 
the  true  situation,  been  led  into  extravagant 
criticism,  they  have  endeavored  to  present 
the  real  facts  and  difficulties  with  reference 
to  the  introduction  and  operation  of  the  cable 
system.  Not  so  with  the  JVews,  however,  for 
it  has  grown  in  bitterness  toward  the  coin- 
pany  and  its  management,  and  delighted  in 
exaggerating  the  slightest  hindrance  into  a 
great  public  calamity.  The  stranding  of  the 
cable,  which  is  entirely  unavoidable  at  times, 
has  been  heralded  as  a  failure  of  the  entire 
North  Side  car  system,  while  the  occasional  The  Critic— From 
breaking  of  a  grip  has  been  worth  a  column  "Judge." 

of  anathemas  of  the  strongest  order.  If  a  loaded  wagon  hap- 
pened to  break  down  on  the  railway  tracks,   and  impeded  travel 


3 

for  a  few  minutes,  the  company  has  been  unmercifully  assailed. 
and  the  city  council  called  upon  to  revoke  its  charter;  where  a 
passenger  has  been  injured  by  jumping  off  a  car  while  in  motion, 
public  prejudice  has  been  appealed  to  in  the  most  unprincipled 
and  sensational  style  ;  and  when  a  cable  has  parted  under  the 
severe  service  to  which  it  has  been  subjected,  or  an  unforseen  ac- 
cident has  occurred,  the  common  adjectives  have  been  inadequate 
to  sufficiently  denounce  the  management  of  the  road,  or  to  decry 


LaSalle  Avenue  Power-IIouse. 

the  entire  North  Side  railway  system.  In  fact,  the  paper  in 
question  has  played  the  part  of  a  virulent  enemy  from  the  first, 
and  few  things  have  been  too  harsh  for  it  to  say,  and  few 
ends  too  devious  for  it  to  resort  to  in  the  fulfillment  of  its  self- 
imposed  mission.  It  has  not  only  spared  no  pains  to  impair 
the  property  of  the  company,  to  retard  its  progress  and  success, 
but  it  has  been  equally  tenacious  in  its  endeavor  to  injure  the 
North  Side  generally.     It  has  berated  holdings  of  all  kinds,  and 


even  gone  so  far  as  to  try  and  create  an  exodus  of  residents  from 
thai  division.  By  false  publications  and  malicious  inuendo  il 
lias  sought  to  depreciate4  real  estate  values,  and  left  nothing 
undone  that  could  possibly  contribute  to  the  demoralization  it 
was  seeking  to  bring  about.  That  it  has  not  been  successful  is 
not  its  fault,  and  it  is  highly  gratifying  to  the  company  to  note 
its  failure.  In  fact,  its  course  has  had  the  effect  to  disgust  all 
classes,  and  if  indications  arc  to  be  relied  on,  it  is  now  reaping  the 
reward  of  its  disgraceful  conduct 

In  this  connection  it  is  probably  worth  while  to  show  what 
has  been  the  effect  of  the  cable  road  on  values:  Godfrey 
Schmidj  a  large  property  owner,  writes:  "Everybody  knows 
that  property  on  the  North  Side  has  risen  in  value  since  the 
cable  lines  were  built,  some  of  it  50  per  cent.,  and  I  am  sure 
none  of  it  has  been  damaged."  Continuing,  he  adds:  u  It  (the 
cable)  has  been  a  decided  advantage  to  the  residents  and  property 
owners,  the  daily  News  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding."  E.  S. 
Dreyer  &  Co.  write  that  "renting  on  the  North  Side  is  better  this 
year  than  ever  before.  *  *  The  value  of  real 

estate  has  considerably  increased,  compared  with  prices  two  or 
th ice  years  ago,  and  the  improvements  and  new  buildings  erected 
in  the  last  two  years  eclipse  those  of  any  time  prior  to  the  inaug- 
uration  of  the  cable  system."  A.  Loeb  &  Son  say  in  a  letter 
"that  the  cable  system  has  been  advantageous  to  real  estate  on  the 
North  Side."  W.  D.  Kerfoot  &  Co.  write:  "We  have  been 
selling  for  the  past  few  years  a  great  deal  of  property  in  the 
southern  portion  of  Lake  View,  and  find  by  comparing  the  sales 
made  two  years  ago  with  those  made  recently  that  prices  have  ad- 
vanced fully  100  per  cent."  Turner  &  Co.  also  bear  testimony  to 
the  benefits  of  the  cable  system  and  its  good  effect  on  property. 
Dozens  of  other  letters  of  the  same  character  from  real  estate 
dealers,  owners  and  agents  could  be  quoted,  but  these  are  sufficient 
to  expose;  the  evil  spirit  which  has  prompted  the  JVews  in  its  as- 
saults  upon  North  Side  interests,  and  at  the  same  time  are  an  an- 
swer to  its  libels.  It  has  had  nothing  akin  to  "the  milk  of  human 
kindness"  in  its  policy  toward  this  company,  for  even  when  the 
strike  was  on  it  encouraged  the  strikers,  and  did  all  it  could  to 
embarrass  the  situation  and  prolong  the  inconvenience  to  the 
public  of  being  deprived  of  transit  facilities.  Its  highest  ambition 
at  all  times  has    been  that  it  continue  consistent  in  its  warfare, 


right  or  wrong,  and  it  has  only  succeeded  at  the  expense  of  its 
dignity  as  a  journal,   and  its  character  as  a  newspaper. 

The  North  Chicago  Street  Railroad  Company  has  heretofore 
taken  no  notice  of  the  disreputable  conduct  of  the  JVews,  for  it  is 
engaged  in  an  entirely  different  line  of  business,  but  it  has  no 
excuse  to  offer  at  this  time.  The  publication  of  these  pages 
was  determined  upon  as  a  means  to  present  a  few  facts  touch- 
ing the  relation  of  this  corporation  to  the  public,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  defend  the  residents  and  property-owners  of  the 
North  Side  against  the  calumnies  that  have  been  heaped  upon 
them  over  its  shoulders.     Reference  to  what  has  been  said  against 


Section  of  the  Cable  Conduit  and  Tracks. 

the  company,  therefore,  is  but  a  natural  incident.  The  answers  of 
hundreds  to  the  daily  onslaughts  against  the  management  could  be 
given,  but  there  is  no  desire  to  multiply  words.  A  statement  of 
the  facts,  though  they  be  already  known  to  cable-car  patrons, 
will  prove  the  strongest  possible  defense. 

To  start  with,  just  as  soon  as  the  present  management  took 
hold  of  the  North  Side  road,  it  saw  the  absolute  necessity  of  reliev- 
ing the  bridges  connecting  with  that  division.  This  was  demanded 
alike  by  the  commerce  of  the  river  and  the  residents  of  the  northern 
section  of  the  city,  who  were  clamoring  for  rapid  transit.  The  South 
Side  already  had  a  cable  system,  and  why  not  the  North  Side  ? 
This  was  the  question  that  confronted  the  compan}-,  and  it  at  once 


set  ;il unit  answering  it.  There  Avas  the  La  Salle  street  tunnel, 
which  was  almost  entirely  abandoned  by  the  public,  but  when  the 
company  offered  to  utilize  it  in  the  establishing  of  a  cable  system, 
it  was  met  with  a  proposition  to  pay  a  rental  of  $25,000  a  year  for 
its  use,  or  in  lieu  thereof  to  construct  double  steel  bridges  at 
Wells  and  Clark  streets.  It  chose  to  build  the  bridges,  partly  in 
recognition  of  the  public  demand  for  increased  facilities  for  cross- 
ing the  river,  and  partly  for  financial  reasons,  and,  notwithstanding 
the  inconvenience  growing  out  of  their  construction,  there  are 
now  no  regrets  on  the  subject,  unless  it  be  that  such  desirable  im- 
provements were  so  long  deferred  by  the  city  authorities.  A  great 
deal  has  been  said  by  those  inconvenienced  about  the  time  taken 
to  build  the  Wells  street  bridge,  and  there  was  also  some  complaint 
in  reference  to  the  one  at  Clark  street.  The  facts  are,  however, 
that  they  were  both  built  more  rapidly  than  any  of  the  other 

bridges  across  the  river  or  its 
branches,  for  it  took  six  months 
to  put  up  the  State  street  bridge, 
which  is  a  single  structure,  while 
the  double  bridges  erected  by 
the  city  have  occupied  from 
seven  to  nine  months  each. 

With  the  acceptance  of  the 
La  Salle  street  tunnel  the  com- 
"  Another  Cable  Delay."  pany  saw  the  solution  of  both 
the  bridge  nuisance  and  the  rapid  transit  question,  fully  realiz- 
ing, however,  that  the  future  was  not  to  be  a  bed  of  roses. 
It  saw,  through  its  engineers,  extraordinary  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  successfully  operating  a  cable  system — the  tunnel  grades, 
the  loop  curves,  and  the  crossing  of  cables  at  the  north  ap- 
proach— but  was  determined  to  spare  neither  pains  nor  expense 
in  meeting  the  mechanical  problems  presented.  The  work  was 
undertaken  and  pushed  to  completion,  and  its  success  is  the 
triumph  of  one  of  the  most  intricate  and  difficult  pieces  of  engi- 
neering in  the  railroad  construction  of  the  world.  There  were 
cable  systems  already  in  operation,  it  is  true,  but  nowhere  was 
there  a  similar  condition  of  affairs,  or  like  obstacles  to  overcome, 
Tor  while  the  material  and  construction  were  the  best,  nothing  short 
of  long  and  careful  experience  could  fit  men  to  the  new  situation, 
or  adjust  the  vast  improvements  to  the  necessities  of  the  public  in 


active  use.  The  process  of  operation  was,  therefore,  necessarily 
tedious ;  yet,  with  it  all,  it  can  be  truthfully  said  that  the  history 
of  cable  roads  fails  to  show  a  system  anywhere  of  any  preten- 
sion that  begins  to  compare  with  that  of  the  North  Side  for 
freedom  from  accidents  and  delays,  and  for  safety  and  ease  of  action. 
While  it  is  a  fact  that  mishaps  growing  out  of  inexperience  have 
occurred,  there  have  been  fewer  of  them  than  on  any  other  road  of 
equal  magnitude,  and  they  have  been  as  promptly  remedied  as  dis- 
covered.    There  have  been  a  few  errors  of  construction,  too,  and 


View  of  Engine  Eoom,  La  Salle  Avenue  Station. 

annoyances  have  been  the  result,  but  the  company  has  corrected 
every  trouble  of  the  kind  as  soon  as  it  was  made  apparent.  One  of 
the  earliest  causes  of  complaint  was  the  jamming  of  cars  at  the  junc- 
tion of  Clark  and  Centre  streets,  but  the  completion  of  the  Lincoln 
avenue  cable  line  did  away  with  all  of  that.  The  most  prolific  source 
of  annoyance,  however,  was  found  at  the  north  end  of  the  tunnel, 
where  the  cables  crossed  and  re-crossed,  and  where  the  curves  and 
switches  were  a  menace  to  engineering  skill  and  almost  jeopardized 
the  success  of  the  system.  The  difficulties  there  developed  one  by 
one,  and,  as  quick  as  they  appeared,  were  corrected,  whether  it  meant 


the  expenditure  of  one  dollar  or  ten  thousand  dollars.  In  remedying 
one  trouble,  too,  it  often  occurred  that  another  was  created,  yet  the 
company  has  never  faltered  for  a  moment,  but  has  pushed  boldly 
forward,  until  it  can  boast  of  the  best  equipped  and  most  thorough 
<<il>l<  system  to  be  found  anywhere.  Its  aim  has  been  to  have  the 
best  that  could  be  secured,  no  matter  what  the  cost,  and  the  man- 
agement unhesitatingly  maintains,  and  without  the  fear  of  truthful 
contradiction,  that  it  has  succeeded,  notwithstanding  the  oft-repeated 
statements  of  its  enemies  to  the  contrary.  The  company,  in  a 
word,  has  gone  on  to  success,  and  not  only  answered  the  vitupera- 
tion of  its  enemies,  but  has  overcome  the  prejudices  they  have  so 
industriously  sought  to  create  and  foster  in  the  minds  of  the  public 
at  large,  and  it  earnestly  invites  an  examination  and  comparison  Of 
its  "plant,"  feeling  confident  that  the  result  will  more  than  sustain 
all  that  it  has  ever  claimed. 

When  the  present  management  entered  upon  the  control  of 
the  North  Side  car  system  in  March,  1886,  there  were  thirty-five 
miles  of  track  in  operation;  now  there  are  sixty-eight  miles,  of 
which  fifteen  are  cable.  The  residents  of  that  division  were  in  the 
midst  of  the  bridge  nuisance,  which  seems,  however,  to  have  been 
almost  forgotten  by  the  croakers  the  moment  it  disappeared.  The 
facilities  for  getting  across  the  river  were  so  inadequate  that  the 
public  prints  were  advocating  filling  the  stream,  and  many  times 
committees  of  citizens  had  waited  on  the  old  management  of  the 
company  to  induce  it  to  use  the  tunnel  to  afford  relief,  but  without 
avail.  The  bridges,  in  fact,  were  regarded  as  a  positive  hindrance  to 
North  Side  growth,  and  public  sentiment  was  very  strong  against 
them.  Because  of  their  insufficiency,  it  was  no  unusual  thing  to  see 
a  line  of  teams  at  either  of  the  approaches  several  blocks  long,  when- 
ever they  were  swung  for  a  few  minutes,  the  disastrous  effect  of 
which,  on  both  business  and  travel,  can  scarcely  be  estimated. 
Figures  made,  showed  that  the  bridges  were  causing  a  loss  in  time 
of  about  three  hours  out  of  every  twelve — or  twenty-five  per  cent. 
— to  the  population  having  to  pass  over  them.  But  all  of  this 
is  now  as  a  dream,  and  scarcely  remembered  by  the  thousands 
who  glide  through  the  tunnel  day  after  day,  in  defiance  of  the 
exactions  of  commerce  in  the  river  above  them,  and  oblivious  to 
the  existence  of  the  bridges  to  the  right  or  the  left,  and  are  dropped 
with  equal  facility  at  either  their  office  door,  or  their  wonted  pur- 
chasing counter.     Then,  again,  it  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  the 


9 

introduction  of  the  cable  system  has  not  only  cured  the  bridge 
nuisance,  but  it  has  supplied  rapid  transit  at  the  same  time.  In 
the  days  of  horse  cars  the  speed  was  six  miles  an  hour,  while  in 
the  days  of  the  cable  it  has  grown  to  eleven  miles  on  Clark  and 
Wells  streets,  and  twelve  on  Lincoln  avenue.  The  increase, 
however,  is  better  shown  by  the  actual  time  card,  which  was  1$ 
minutes  on  Clark  street,  by  horse  cars,  from  the  city  limits  to 
Washington  street,  and  is  now^  minutes  by  cable  cars — or  a 
saving  of  15  minutes,  leaving  the  former  loss  of  time  at  the 
bridges  entirely  out  of  account.  And  this  saving  is  divided 
between  the  100,000  people  who  now  patronize  the  North  Side 
cars,  as  against  the  60,000  who  were  bridged  every  day  in  the 
pre-cable  period.  In  other  words,  the  100,000  who  now  ride  are 
not  only  saved  the  25  per  cent,  loss  of  time  on  account  of  the  old 


The  Bell  Has  Rung— You  Know  IIoav  It  Used  To  Be. 

bridge  nusiance,  but  they  are  also  enjoying  an  increase  of  about  35 
per  cent,  in  speed  of  travel,  which  the  company's  60,000  patrons  in 
the  days  gone  by  were  a  stranger  to.  But  these  are  not  all 
of  the  advantages  the  cable  has  brought,  for  with  the  increase  of 
speed  has  come  a  large  growth  in  the  capacity  to  carry  passengers. 
While  the  population  of  the  North  Division  has  multiplied  and 
extended,  the  company  has  met  the  improved  condition  by  increas- 
ing the  carrying  room  of  its  rolling  stock  three  times  as  great  as 
has  been  the  growth  in  the  number  of  its  patrons.  That  is,  for 
every  passenger  added,  the  company  has  provided  three  new 
seats,  so  it  will  be  seen  that,  despite  the  earnings  of  the  evil 
disposed  and  jealously  inclined,  a  studied  effort  has  been  made 
in  every  direction  to  cater  to  the  necessities  of  the  public,  and 
to  afford  a  safe,  rapid  and   comfortable   means  of  transit.     The 


10 

measure  of  success  met  in  the  endeavor  can  only  be  computed  by 
comparison,  or  fully  appreciated  by  reverting  to  the  old  order  of 
things.  There  is  no  longer  any  occasion  for  swearing  at  the 
bridge-tenders,  or  waiting  at  the  viaducts  in  dense  clouds  of  smoke 
from  the  engines  below,  for  the  arrival  of  a  tug  to  pull  a  vessel  out 
of  the  draw;  there  is  no  more  stopping  for  slow  and  balky  teams 
to  get  out  of  the  way,  nor  is  the  patron  of  the  cable  car  the  victim 
of  the  cranky  and  perverse  army  of  teamsters  that  existed  in  the 
"good  old  days  of  yore  ;"  the  relieving  of  the  bridges  of  much 
of  the  car  traffic,  too,  has  been  of  untold  advantage  to  business 
of  all  kinds ;  there  is  no  longer  the  jam  of  cars  and  other 
vehicles  in  almost  endless  tangles  at  prominent  down  town  street 
intersections;  patrons  of  places  of  amusement  are  delivered  as 
though  from  their  carriages  wherever  their  tickets  call  for  ;  and 
instead  of  the  old  bouncing  process  over  rough  rails  and  an  im- 
perfect road-bed,  the  passengers 
ride  with  safety  and  comfort  over 
as  smooth  a  surface  as  it  is  pos- 
sible to  maintain.  In  fact,  the 
condition  has  been  so  much  im- 
proved that,  though  the  cable 
should  break  every  day,  and  the 
'"'-IfW111'"'  very  worst  said  of  the  system  by 

Do  You  Kemember?  jj-s  enemies  should  be  true,   there 

are  none  so  obtuse  as  to  desire  to  return  to  horse-cars  or  horse-car 
annoyances.  The  effect  of  rapid  transit  and  abolishing  the  bridge 
nuisance  has  been  to  give  the  North  Side  a  boom,  publications  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding,  and  as  the  cable  system  develops, 
extends  and  improves,  as  it  is  doing  every  day,  its  friends  will 
multiply  and  its  enemies  disappear  in  the  mire  of  their  own  making. 
Nothing  tells  the  story  of  the  boom  better  than  real  estate  sales,  and 
a  few  figures  may  not  be  out  of  place.  In  1886,  a  month  after  the 
present  company  took  hold,  the  southwest  corner  of  Clark  and 
Schiller  streets  sold  for  $20,000,  and  last  fall  E.  S.  Dreyer  &  Co. 
resold  it  for  $28,000  ;  ninety-six  feet  on  Dearborn  avenue,  near 
Indiana  street,  sold  in  1887  for  $30,000,  and  was  a  year  later  sold 
for  $36,000.  C.  F.  Collott  &  Co.  report  the  sale  of  the  southwest 
corner  of  Clark  and  Illinois  streets,  in  1885,  for  $52,000,  and  that 
they  have  recently  refused  $80,000  for  the  same  property;  they 
sold  fifty  feet  on  the  corner  of  Barry  and  Evanston  avenues,  in 


11 


1887,  for  $5,000,  which  they  have  since  resold  for  $7,000  ;  in  1884 
they  sold  220  feet  on  Lake  View  avenue  boulevard  for  $90  a  foot, 
which  they  resold  a  few  months  ago  for  $218  a  foot ;  they  also 
report  a  sale  on  Clark  street,  near  Fullerton  avenue,  of  a  piece  of 
property  for  $12,000,  which  they  sold  just  before  the  cable 
was  put  in  for  $6,400.  Page  after  page  of  similar  illustra- 
tions could  be  given,  but  these  suffice  to  show  the  utter  ridicu- 
lousness of  the  assaults  against  North  Side  values,  and  also 
demonstrate  the  extreme  foolishness  of  the  attacks  on  this 
company  in  the  endeavor  to  destroy  public  confidence  in  its 
management. 

An  effort  has  also  been  made  by  the  critic  enemies  of  the 
North  Chicago  Street  Railroad  Company,  and  the  traducers  of 
North  Side  interests,  to  convey 
the  idea  that  the  company's 
"  plant  "  was  cheaply  construct- 
ed, that  the  poorest  kind  of 
material  had  been  used,  and 
that  the  entire  cable  system  was 
therefore  necessarily  faulty,  if 
not  an  absolute  failure.  Such 
propositions,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  company  has  voluntarily 
invested  millions  of  dollars  in 
the  improvement,  are  scarcely 
worth  answering  ;  yet  it  may  not 
be  amiss  to  allude  to  this  particular  branch  of  the  subject,  es- 
pecially since  the  success  of  the  entire  system  hinges  on  the 
character  of  its  construction.  The  company,  as  before  stated, 
saw  before  it  great  engineering  difficulties  to  start  with,  and 
to  the  end  that  there  should  be  as  few  failures  as  possible, 
insisted  from  the  beginning  on  first-class  workmanship,  and  also 
that  the  best  material  should  be  used  in  every  part  of  the 
undertaking.  It  was  necessary  to  have  a  perfect  conduit,  firm  and 
smooth  tracks,  ample  manholes,  and  a  complete  electric  and  drain- 
age system  ;  hence,  in  making  the  drawings  for  the  ground  work, 
and  in  approving  the  details  of  the  plans,  the  greatest  care  was 
exercised.  The  specifications  on  which  the  work  was  done,  too,  were 
the  most  exacting,  and  the  result  is  summed  up  in  the  announce- 
ment that  there  is  nowhere  to  be  found — the  company's  foes  to 


12 


the  contrary  notwithstanding — better  concreting  and  masonry, 
or  more  profuse  use  of  material  in  construction.  These  were  the 
first  considerations  to  be  attained,  and  the  very  basis  of  the  success 
which  lias  crowned  the  vast  expenditure  of  money  in  the  interest  of 
rapid  transit  for  the  North  Side.  With  faulty  construction  the 
entire  system  would  have  been  the  failure  certain  individuals  have 
desired  it  should  be  ;  whereas,  with  proper  construction,  it  has 
proved  one  of  the  best  ever  contracted  for.  To  perfection  of 
workmanship,    however,  had  to  be  added    machinery  and  other 


^gyfogyL. 


View  of  Electric  Plant,  LaSalle  Avenue  Station. 

equipments,  and  in  this  direction  nothing  has  been  spared.  And 
it  is  not  saying  too  much  to  claim  that  the  company's  engines 
are  equal  to  the  best  anywhere  manufactured — that  there  are  none 
which  surpass  them — and  that  its  engine-houses  or  power-stations 
are  the  finest  and  best  adapted  of  any  in  the  country.  It  is 
not  going  too  far,  either,  to  claim  that  with  the  substantial  ele- 
gance which  characterizes  the  "plant"  throughout,  nothing  has 
been  omitted  that  could  contribute  to  public  safety  in  the  opera- 
tion of  the  cable  system.  Every  known  device  and  precaution 
have  been  seized  upon,  and  the  effect  is  seen  in  the  scarcity  of 


13 


accidents  in  the  operation  of  the  company's  several  lines.  One  of 
the  notable  and  most  modern  devices  in  this  direction  is  an  electric 
signal,  by  which  the  conductor  of  a  car  can  communicate  with  his 
power-house  at  every  street  intersection.  If  the  cable  should 
strand  at  any  point,  or  the  "grip"  become  unmanageable  or  go 
wrong,  as  it  sometimes  does,  the  conductor  can  signal  the  engineer 


1 


Clark  Street  Power  House. 

miles  away  and  stop  the  cable  with  about  the  same  facility  a  driver 
can  stop  his  horses.  Improved  double  brakes  have  also  been  ap- 
plied, as  another  preventative  of  accidents  ;  new  coupling  appa 
ratus  has  been  added,  and  in  the  interest  of  public  comfort  and 
convenience  the  lighting  of  the  La  Salle  street  tunnel  by  electricity 
has  been  supplemented  by  automatically  lighting  many  of  the  cars 


14 

by  the  same  means,  and  the  purpose  of -the  company  is  to  ultimately 
light  all  of  the  closed  cars  passing  through  the  tunnel  in  the  same 
way.  In  fact,  the  management  has  been  so  careful  in  every  detail, 
and  so  solicitous  in  providing  the  public  with  rapid  transit  facil- 
ities, that  it  takes  particular  pride  in  inviting  a  comparison  of  its 
system  with  that  of  any  and  all  others,  whether  at  home  or 
abroad.  And  it  has  no  desire,  either,  to  abridge  the  comparison, 
but  it  is  entirely  willing  that  it  should  start  with  the  construction 
and  extend  to  the  operation  and  direction,  and  has  no  concern 
or  apprehension  as  to  what  the  verdict  will  be.  Nowhere  will 
better  constructive  work  be  found  ;  its  engines  and  machinery  are 
the  best  that  could  be  procured  ;  the  tracks  are  as  smooth  as  a 
floor  ;  accidents  have  been  comparatively  f  ew  ;  delays  and  mishaps 
have  been  less  than  on  any  other  line  of  its  length,  and  the  cars 
and  general  accommodation  could  scarcely  have  been  better.  And 
in  this  connection  it  may  not  be  out  of  the  way  to  note  that  the 
cable,  nor  any  part  of  it,  has  ever  been  stopped  an  entire  day 
since  it  commenced  running,  while  it  is  notorious  in  the  history  of 
other  cable  lines  that  they  have  been  stopped  from  breakages  or 
other  causes  for  weeks  at  a  time  before  they  began  to  work  smooth 
or  anything  like  satisfactorily. 

The  company  has  three  power-houses,  one  located  at  the  cor- 
ner of  Clark  and  Elm  streets,  a  second  at  the  corner  of  Lincoln 
and  Wrightwood  avenues,  and  a  third  at  the  corner  of  La  Salle 
avenue  and  Illinois  street.  The  first-named  is  the  central  or  main 
station,  and  is  a  model  of  neatness  and  order.  It  contains  four 
Corliss  engines  of  500-horse  power  each,  four  sets  of  cable-driving 
machinery,  eight  massive  boilers,  and  the  fuel  is  handled  by  an 
elevator  worked  by  a  link  belt  apparatus.  These  engines  drive 
three  distinct  cables,  the  combined  length  of  which  is  about  56,500 
feet.  One  of  them  runs  on  Clark  street  north  to  within  150  feet  of 
the  limits  car-house  and  returns,  and  is  22,700  feet  long  ;  the  second 
cable  runs  south  on  Clark  street  to  within  150  feet  of  Illinois  street 
and  returns,  being  9,200  feet  long  ;  and  the  third  cable  runs  from 
the  power-house  through  a  subway  on  Clark  street  to  Division 
si  red,  and  on  Division  to  Wells  street,  north  on  Wells  street  to 
the  intersection  of  Clark  and  Wisconsin  streets,  where  it  passes 
around  a  large  drum  and  returns  to  a  point  150  feet  north  of 
Illinois  street,  around  another  drum,  back  to  Division,  through  the 
subway,  and  to  the  power-house,  the  cable  being  22,000  feet  long. 


15 


'ho  Lincoln  avenue  power  station  contains  two  Corliss  engines  of 
>00-horse  power  each,  six  boilers  and  two  sets  of  driving  machin- 
ery, and  the  plant  is  used  to  move  the  Lincoln  avenue  cars  between 
the  junction  of  Centre  and  Clark  streets  and  Wrightwood  avenue, 
the  cable  for  the  purpose  being  about  18,000  feet  long.  At  the  La 
Salle  avenue  station  there  are  two  Corliss  engines  of  300-horse 
power  each,  one  set  of  driving  machinery  and  five  boilers,  and  the 
dynamos  which  supply  the  light  for  the  station,  tunnel  and  cars. 
This  nest  of  machinery  and  power  is  used  for  the  cable  in  the 


Boiler  Koom— Clark  Street  Power  House. 

tunnel  and  the  down-town  loop,  which  is  12,500  feet  long.  On 
account  of  the  heavy  service  this  particular  piece  of  cable  has  to 
perform,  the  wear  on  it  is  very  great,  hence  it  has  to  be  frequently 
renewed.  It  was  some  time  before  its  life  could  be  determined  ; 
experience,  however,  has  fully  demonstrated  the  fact  that  th 
appearance  of  the  loop  cable  entirely  fails  to  indicate  its  aelua. 
condition.  It  may  be,  for  instance,  that  only  a  few  strands  are 
broken,  but  at  the  same  time  the  material  is  often  badly  crystalized, 
and  liable  to  go  to  pieces  at  any  moment. 

The  cars  operated  on  the  several  lines  all  make  a  circuit  through 


n; 

the  oar-houses  at  the  northern  terminus — going  in  from  the  right- 
hand  track  and  coming  out  on  the  left — which  avoids  the  delay 
and  confusion  incident  to  the  use  of  horses  and  the  turning  and 
switching  of  cars.  The  cable  on  these  lines  weigh  over  75  tons, 
and  the  entire  mass  is  driven  past  a  given  point,  supposing  the  cable 
to  be  continuous,  once  in  about  every  sixty  minutes,  carrying  with 
it  nearly  one  hundred  cars  which  are  very  often  heavily  loaded. 
This,  however,  fails  to  convey  anything  like  an  adequate  idea  of 
the  service  performed  by  the  engines,  or  even  the  cable,  for  there 
is  scarcely  a  way  of  computing  the  extreme  tension  emergencies 
often  create,  nor  yet  of  estimating  the  exactions  of  such  extraor- 
dinary duty  on  machinery  used  as  this  is.  It  is  enough  to  say, 
perhaps,  which  cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized,  that  both  the 
cable  and  the  power  have  been  found  ample,  and  they  have  not 
only  worked  satisfactorily,  but  have  best  answered  the  charge  against 
the  company  that  it  was  dealing  in  cheap  and  inferior  things.  The 
machinery  has  proved  without  a  flaw,  and  not  a  single  break-down 
has  occurred  at  the  power  stations,  which  is  a  remarkable  circum- 
stance, especially  where  so  great  a  service  has  been  demanded; 
and,  so  far  as  the  main  cable  is  concerned,  by  which  is  meant  all 
north  of  Illinois  street,  the  company  could  not  have  asked  for 
better  results.  There  have  been  very  few  breakages,  and  the  delays 
on  account  of  the  cable  proper  have  scarcely  been  worth  mention- 
ing. It  is  true  that,  before  the  Lincoln  avenue  line  was  started, 
there  was  considerable  complaint  growing  out  of  the  delay  incident 
to  transferring  and  the  massing  of  cars  at  the  intersection  of  Clark 
and  Centre  streets,  but  it  was  not  chargeable  to  the  cable  system, 
and  disappeared  the  earliest  possible  moment  the  cause  could  be 
removed.  In  other  words,  there  has  been  nothing  in  the  operation 
of  the  main  cable  which  has  not  been  assuring,  and  while  the  com- 
pany has  regretted  more  than  its  patrons  possibly  could  the  delays 
and  vexations  growing  out  of  the  starting  of  new  machinery,  it 
congratulates  itself  that  it  has  been  so  heartily  sustained  by  public 
faith  in  its  constant  endeavor  to  right  wrongs,  correct  shortcomings, 
and  serve  its  patrons  in  an  entirely  satisfactory  manner. 

Whatever  trying  difficulty  has  appeared  in  the  operation  of 
the  "plant,"  has  not  been  with  the  machinery,  nor  with  the  main 
cable,  but  with  the  cable  through  the  tunnel  and  around  the  down- 
town Loop.  The  trouble  has  been,  however,  of  purely  an  engineer- 
ing  character,    and   the    public  failing    to   fully   appreciate   the 


17 


obstacles  to  be  overcome,  the  company  has  not  always  been  sur- 
prised at  the  complaints  made,  nor  yet  prepared  to  say  that  some 
of  them  were  not  flavored  with  a  degree  of  justice.     The  passenger 

Clio  was  suddenly  stopped  in  the  tunnel  when  in  a  hurry  to  get  to 
usiness,  or  back  home,  was  naturally  indignant,  simply  because 
he  knew  nothing  of  the  underlying  cause,  and  when  subsequently 
reading  in  one  of  the  papers  that  cheap  machinery  and  bad  man- 
agement had  been  the  source  of  his  misfortune,  his  indignation 
was  simply  fanned  into  a  flame  of  anger.  The  situation  would 
have  been  different  if  the  passenger  could  have  understood  that 


View  of  Engine  Koom,  Clark  Street  Power  House. 
behind  all  such  mishaps  was  an  unavoidable  cause,  and  that  the 
company  had  in  its  constant  employ  a  corps  of  experts  who  were 
doing  nothing  else  but  trying  to  anticipate  all  such  conditions  and 
make  public  inconvenience  an  impossibility.  Many  difficulties  that 
could  not  have  been  foreseen  by  the  engineers  were  timely  met  and 
removed,  but  the  mass  of  them  developed  so  slowly  as  to  be  quite 
annoying  at  times.  The  earliest  and  most  serious  trouble  at  the 
north  approach  to  the  tunnel  was  the  fact  that  the  cable  crossed 
and  re-crossed  at  all  kinds  of  angles,  and  with  the  result  that  the 
"grips "were  being  occasionally  broken  at  that  point,  entailing 


L8 

more  or  Less  confusion  and  delay.  The  apparatus  originally  sup- 
plied  to  remedy  the  difficulty  had  failed  to  do  the  work,  and  nothing 
short  of  absolute4  experience  could  have  shown  it.  The  cars  had 
to  be  drawn  around  the  curves  by  horses,  as  one  of  the  results. 
and  the  situation  was  very  often  exasperating,  but  no  more  so  to  the 
public  than  to  the  company,  to  which  every  delay,  from  whatever 
cause,  was  a  positive  loss.  It  took  months  of  hard  work,  and 
most  of  it  was  after  the  cable  had  been  stopped  for  the  night,  and 
the  company's  patrons  were  asleep,  to  remedy  the  trouble.  The 
device  put  in  to  lift  or  lower  the  cable,  or  switch  a  car,  one  night, 
was  found  the  next  day  to  be  not  entirely  reliable  in  actual  use,  and 
thus  the  unsatisfactory  condition  of  affairs  was  prolonged,  but 
the  remedy  was  finally  found,  and  is  now  in  successful  use.  An- 
other trouble,  which  it  took  time  to  correct,  was  with  the  "grips," 
the  effect  of  which  was  seen  in  the  cars  being  stuck  in  the  tunnel 
when  heavily  loaded.  This  always  occurred  in  the  hurry  time  of 
day,  hence  was  particularly  aggravating.  It  could  not  possibly 
have  been  foreseen,  and  it  was  left  to  actual  experience  to  be  righted 
Even  after  the  difficulty  was  discovered,  it  took  quite  a  while  to 
remedy  it,  because  the  cars  had  to  be  kept  going,  but  it  was  finally 
overcome,  and  no  more  has  been  heard  about  weak  "grips,"  and 
stoppages  in  the  tunnel  have  grown  to  be  so  few  and  far  between 
that  memory  goeth  not  back.  And  when  the  "grips  "had  been 
strengthened,  which  admitted  of  trains  being  run  instead  of  single 
cars,  it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  cable  needed  to  be  larger  to 
meet  the  increased  weight  to  which  it  was  subjected.  It  was  a 
very  simple  matter  to  make  the  change,  but  it  took  time,  mid 
carried  with  it  further  public  annoyance,  but  it  was  made  without 
losing  a  trip  or  embarrasing  a  passenger.  This  change,  however, 
simple  as  it  was,  brought  others,  which  has  been  the  uniform 
history  of  the  "loop"  system  in  reaching  its  present  degree  of 
perfection.  With  a  strong  "grip  "and  an  enlarged  cable,  train 
after  train  of  cars  could  be  drawn  under  the  river  without  limit, 
but  lo,  and  behold!  it  was  discovered  one  fine  day  by  actual 
experience  that  to  mount  the  tunnel  grades  and  gracefully  swing 
around  the.  "loop"  curves  it  would  be  necessary  to  increase  the 
power  at  the  engine-house  by  putting  in  additional  and  stronger 
machinery.  This,  too,  was  very  simple,  but  how  was  the  change 
to  be  made  without  interfering  with  travel?  The  patrons  of  the 
company  will  remember  when  most  of  the  riding  was  done  on  the 


19 


^rip-cars,  and  when  there  was  abundant  complaint  about  the  want 
of  accommodations,  morning  and  evening,  all  of  which  explains 
how  the  transformation  was  made.  One  of  the  old  engines  had  to 
be  thrown  out  of  use,  while  more  powerful  ones  were  put  in  its 
place,  and  to  do  this  the  company  had  to  reduce  the  number  of 
cars  moved  by  the  cable,  with  the  result  that  another  unavoidable 
cause  xyf  complaint  was  afforded.  The  public  at  large,  however, 
knew  nothing  of  the  facts,  and  the  company's  critics  failed  to  fur- 
nish any  information  on  the  subject. 

So  little  is  known  about  the  ' '  loop  "  cable,  the  intricacies  of 
its  adaptation  and  the  severity  of  its  service,  that  a  few  words  of 
explanation  may  be  in  place.     It  starts  from  the  power  station  at 


One  of  The  Effects  on  The  North  Side. 

the  corner  of  Illinois  street  and  La  Salle  avenue,  and,  going  straight 
through  the  tunnel,  makes  the  curve  around  Monroe,  Dearborn 
and  Randolph  streets,  and  returns  to  the  "vault"  on  La  Salle 
avenue.  From  the  latter  point  it  veers  to  the  right,  carrying  the 
cars  over  to  Clark  street,  and  to  the  "vault"  south  of  Indiana 
street.  It  passes  around  a'large  drum  at  its  junction  with  the  main 
cable,  and  returns  to  the  "vault"  on  La  Salle  avenue,  where  it 
takes  another  turn  and  wends  its  way  along  Illinois  to  Wells  street, 
taking  the  Wells  street  cars  with  it  to  the  "vault  "  just  south  of 
Indiana  street.  On  Wells  street  it  hugs  another  drum  and  returns 
to  the  La  Salle  avenue  "vault  "  and  the  power-house,  having  in  its 
course  taken  the  cars  from  both  Clark  and  Wells  streets,  drawn 
them  to  the  La  Salle   avenue    "vault,"  and  thence  through  the 


20 

tunnel,  around  the  "loop,"  and  delivered  them  again  at  the  points 

from  which  they  were  received.  It  has  thus  taken  the  cars  in 
opposite  and  lateral  directions  at  the  same  time,  and  though  this 
description  of  its  course  is  necessarily  imperfect,  it  ought  to  be 
sufficient  to  convey  to  the  uninitiated  some  sort  of  an  idea  of  the 
inl  ricate  and  arduous  nature  of  its  work.  In  performing  this  service, 
too.  which  ordinarily  takes  seventeen  minutes,  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  sixteen  distinct  curves  have  to  be  rounded,  each  con- 
taining a  nest  of  twenty  wheels,  all  of  which  have  a  specific  duty  to 
perform.  These  are  not  the  commonplace  carrying  pulleys  found 
in  the  base  of  the  conduit,  but  comprise  a  mechanical  construction 
as  accurate  as  that  of  a  watch,  and  as  essential  to  the  success  of  the 
"loop"  as  the  cable  itself.  There  are  320  of  these  wheels  in  all, 
and  each  of  them  has  to  bear  its  share  of  the  immense  squeezing, 
binding  and  pulling  strain  to  which  the  whole  is  subjected.  The 
breaking  of  any  one  of  them,  wdiich  can  no  more  be  foreseen  than 
can  the  coming  of  the  end  of  the  world,  is  liable  to  occur  at  any 
time,  the  effect  of  which  has  always  been  to  create  a  delay 
and  tunnel  blockade.  Accidents  of  this  kind,  however,  have 
been  very  few,  but  such  as  have  occurred  have  been  used  against 
the  company  and  the  North  Side  without  the  slightest  show  of 
justice   or  reason. 

But  a  better  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  strain  on  the  cable 
and  the  nests  of  machinery  referred  to  may  possibly  be  gained 
by  going  into  figures  somewhat.  For  instance,  in  the  busy 
hours  of  the  day  the  "loop"  cable  has  attached  to  it,  as  so  many 
knots  in  a  string,  about  sixty-five  loaded  cars  at  one  time,  which 
are  scattered  along  the  tracks,  on  the  tunnel  grades,  and  on  and  off 
the  curves.  The  cars  in  themselves  weigh  from  6,500  to  13,000 
pounds  each,  according  to  size,  the  average  being,  probably,  about 
i».  750  pounds,  which  would  make  their  total  weight  633,750  pounds, 
or  considerably  over  300  tons.  These  same  cars  contain,  when 
loaded,  at  least  6,500  people,  weighing  at  a  fair  estimate  not  less 
than  900,000  pounds,  or  450  tons  ;  so  it  will  be  seen  that  the  cable, 
which  is  a  little  over  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  diameter,  is  often 
diawing  750  tons  in  and  out  of  the  tunnel,  and  that  the  nests  of 
wheels  at  the  curves  already  described  are  not  only  bearing  this 
immense  weight,  but  the  weight  of  the  cable  in  addition,.  These 
figures,  however,  fail  to  begin  to  convey  a  correct  idea  of  the  real 
condition   of   affairs,  for,  while  they  approximately  show  much, 


21 


they  cannot,  from  the  very  nature  of  things,  faithfully  repre- 
sent the  actual  situation.  They  show  the  strain  to  which  the  cable 
is  exposed,  and  indicate  the  weight  the  curve  wheels  have  to  carry, 
and  leave  one  to  imagine  something  as  to  the  power  behind  the 
system  necessary  to  keep  it  in  motion ;  but  no  account  is  taken  of 
the  friction,  the  wear  and  tear,  the  extraordinary  tax  of  starting 
and  stopping  cars,  nor  of  the  numerous  other  things'  which  go 
to  increase  the  severity  of  the  "loop"  cable  service.  The 
wheels  for  instance,   act  as  so  many  mechanical  hands,   and  are 


Interior  of  Clark  Street  Vault. 
bending  the  wires  in  the  cable  back  and  forth  as  if  to  break  them. 
Success  sometimes  attends  the  endeavor,  and  the  result  is  seen  in 
what  is  called  the  "stranding"  of  the  cable.  This  leads  to  a  stop- 
page of  the  cars  occasionally  for  a  few  minutes,  and  the  event  is 
heralded  with  great  regularity  by  one  of  the  afternoon  prints, 
wherein  it  is  announced  in  glowing  headlines  that  the  cable  system 
is  a  failure,  while  the  people  of  the  North  Side  arc  advised  to 
move  into  one  of  the  other  divisions  of  the  city.  Other  cable 
systems  have  "loops,"  but  they  are  simply  used  to  reverse  cars 
after  they  have  been  emptied,  whereas  the  "loop"  of  the  North 


22 

aide  company  does  the  work  of  the  entire  system,  and  is  constantly 
heavily  taxed  with  loaded  cars. 

In  no  other  way,  probably,  can  the  extreme  exactions  of  the 
"loop"  cable  be  better  shown  than  by  comparison.  It  is  only 
12,500  feet  long,  yet  it  handles  all  of  the  cars  handled  by  the 
three  other  cables  of  the  system,  and  beside  this  it  has  to  overcome 
the  tunnel  grades  and  the  strain  at  the  curves  which  the  other  lines 
arc  free  from.  Every  foot  of  it  is  taken  in  the  hand  of  the 
''grip"  time  and  again  every  day,  and  no  less  than  4,500  cars, 
carrying  from  70,000  to  100,000  people,  gather  locomotion  from 
it  with  the  regularity  that  the  sun  rises.  Each  foot  of  it,  to  say 
nothing  about  the  grades  it  has  to  contend  with,  is  doing  the  work 
done  by  six  feet  of  the  main  cable,  and  that  it  performs  its  duty  so 
well  and  with  so  little  hindrance  shows  that  it  is  well  cared  for. 
But  the  facts  are  really  more  strongly  put  in  the  bare  statement 
that,  while  the  main  cable  lasts  from  twelve  to  fifeeen  months, 
the  "  loop  "  cable  has  to  be  renewed  every  four  or  five  weeks.  This 
is  the  story  in  a  nutshell,  and  its  telling  ought  not  to  be  without  its 
effect,  especially  since  so  many  unkind,  unreasonable  and  false  and 
slanderous  things  have  been  ignorantly  said  against  the  company  in 
this  connection.  It  has  been  accused  of  about  everything,  and  its 
transit  system  has  been  decried,  and  its  management  maligned,  but 
the  sequence  shows  that  it  has  neither  turned  to  the  right  nor  to 
the  left,  but  has  constantly  had  an  eye  to  the  public  welfare,  and 
especially  to  so  perfecting  its  "plant,"  without  regard  to  expense, 
as  to  best  promote  rapid  and  safe  transit  for  the  North  Side,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  forward  the  material  interests  of  its  patrons  in 
every  possible  direction.  And  it  has  not  begun  to  tire  in  its  laudable 
endeavor,  but  has  in  contemplation  a  great  many  improvements 
that  cannot  fail  of  hearty  appreciation.  One  of  these  is  the  relief 
of  the  over- worked  "loop"  cable,  which  will  shortly  be  in  use. 
The  plan  is  to  so  adjust  and  arrange  the  "plant "  that  an  independ- 
ent cable  will  take  the  cars  from  Clark  or  Wells  streets  and 
deliver  them  at  the  north  approach  to  the  tunnel.  This  will  leave 
the  "loop"  cable  to  do  the  tunnel  and  South  Side  "loop"  work, 
which  will  save  it  a  number  of  its  curves,  and  also  a  considerable 
portion  of  its  present  strain.  Further  than  this,  the  calculation  is 
that  the  change  will  extend  the  life  of  the  cable  from  four  or  five 
weeks  to  nearly  twice  that  number  of  months,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  effectually  put  an  end  to  the  possibility  of  any  serious  delay 


23 


or  annoyance  from  the  causes  heretofore  most  prolific  in  that  line 
of  effects.  Then  again,  the  change  will  have  another  advantage 
not  to  be  overlooked,  wherein  it  converts  the  North  Side  system 
into  a  complete  loop  in  itself,  so  in  the  event  of  a  break  down  or 
accident  in  the  tunnel  or  on  the  South  Side,  the  Clark  and  Wells 
street  cars  instead  of  being  jammed  on  Illinois  street,  will  take  up 
the  new  cable  and  pass  on  around  to  the  main  cable  again  without 
stopping.  Thus,  the  Clark  street  car  will  return  by  Wells  street, 
and  the  Wells  street  car  by  Clark  street,  and  the  minimum 
of  public  inconvenience  and  delay  will  have  been  attained.   ■  A 


View  of  the  Clark  Street  Tension  Pit. 

breakage  under  these  circumstances  and  conditions  will  be  of  no 
popular  concern.  It  will  simply  affect  the  company,  and  not  its 
patrons.  The  resident  of  Lake  View  will  find  the  cable  ready  at 
all  times  to  bring  him  or  her  down  town,  whereas  the  delay  here- 
tofore of  half  an  hour  on  the  "  loop  "  has  meant  a  similar  delay 
all  along  the  line.  The  passing  of  a  procession  on  the  South  Side, 
or  the  breaking  down  of  a  wagon  on  the  tracks  has  demoralized 
the  entire  system,  but  the  days  of  strings  of  cars  standing  idly  on 
a  street  are  at  an  end,  and  the  occasions  of  patrons  waiting  for 
"  grips  "  and  ' '  tailers  "  along  the  line  because  of  such  demoralization 


24 


25 


are  to  be  remembered  with  the  things  of  the  past.  The  ambi- 
tion of  the  company  and  its  management  is  to  have  the  cable 
system  perfect,  and  nothing  short  of  this  will  satisfy  either. 

The  benefits  and  advantages  of  rapid  transit  to  the  North  Side 
are  not  confined  to  any  particular  section,  but  are  felt  by  the  public 
at  large — by  the  tourist  passing  this  way,  by  the  excursionist  and 


Lincoln  Avenue  Power  House. 
object-hunter,  and  by  the  thousands  of  visitors  who  arc  yearly 
attracted  to  Chicago  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  It  is  true  that 
the  residents  of  the  North  Division  are  most  directly  and  constantly 
benefited,  and  that  to  them  the  freedom  from  the  bridge  nuisance 
and  the  advantages  of  rapid  transit  are  most  appreciated,  but  it  is 
equally  true  that  nine-tenths  of  the  visitors  to  Lincoln  Park,  come 


26 

from  where  they  may,  are  patrons  of  the  North  Chicago  Street 
Railroad  Company.  And  the  saying  of  this  means  more  than 
appears  at  a  glance,  for  this  particular  spot  is  known  the  country 
over,  and  the  stranger  would  as  soon  think  of  seeing  Chicago 
without  a  look  at  Lake  Michigan,  as  he  would  without  seeing  the 
beautiful  park  spread  out  on  the  lake's  shore,  or  discussing  with 
the  eye  the  many  attractions  it  presents.  The  tract  was  originally 
laid  out  in  1864,  and,  at  the  time,  embraced  forty  acres,  adjoining 
the  old  "City  Cemetery."  It  was  named  "Lake  Park,"  from  the 
fact  of  its  proximity  to  the  lake,  and  was  intended  as  an  addition 
to  the  cemetery,  but  this  plan  was  ultimately  changed,  and  it 
was  named  "  Lincoln  Park, "  in  honor  of  the  martyred  president. 
In  1869  the  legislature  extended  the  park  boundaries  so  as  to  em- 
brace 250  acres,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  board  of  park  com- 
missioners was  created,  consisting  of  E.  B.  McCagg,  J.  B.  Turner, 
Joseph  Stockton,  Jacob  Rehm  and  Andrew  Nelson.  Two  years 
later  the  power  of  appointing  the  commissioners  was  vested  in  the 
governor,  and  S.  M.  Nickerson,  Joseph  Stockton,  Belden  P.  Culver, 
W.  H.  Bradley  and  Francis  H.  Kales  were  selected.  Gen. 
Stockton  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  ever  since,  and  next  to 
him  in  continuous  service  has  been  F.  H.  Winston,  who  gave 
twelve  years  to  the  work.  E.  S.  Taylor,  the  present  secretary, 
has  been  with  the  board  from  the  first,  and  has  seen  about  $4,000,- 
000  expended,  of  which  at  least  $2,000,000  has  been  for  improve- 
ments and  maintenance. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  go  into  details  about  the  growth  and 
development  of  Lincoln  Park,  except  to  show  its  relation  to  the 
public  and  the  North  Chicago  Railroad  Company.  Pages  could 
be  written  as  to  how  it  has  improved  from  year  to  year,  and  then 
but  half  justice  would  be  done.  The  company,  however,  is  par- 
ticularly gratified  at  being  able  to  say  that  as  the  park  has  grown 
in  beauty  and  attractiveness,  the  facilities  for  reaching  it  have 
multiplied,  and  that  visitors  are  heard  every  day  to  remark  about 
it,  and  to  speak  of  the  North  Side  cable  system  as  one  of  the 
many  added  objects  of  interest  and  pleasure.  A  few  years  ago 
the  park  was  a  mere  appendage  to  a  graveyard,  but  it  is-  now 
probably  the  prettiest  and  most  popular  breathing  place  in  the 
world.  Its  visitors  were  in  earlier  days  confined  to  funeral 
processions,  and  its  music  to  burial  dirges,  but  now  people  flock 
there  from  every  condition  of  life  to  wonder  at  its  floral  beauties, 


27 

to  revel  in  the  delights  of  its  lakes  and  shades,  or  to  listen  to  the 
open-air  concerts  so  freely  provided.  The  tiny  wooden  tomb- 
stones, and  the  bleached  marble  slabs  of  the  sepulchre,  have  given 
way  to  the  grass  plot,  the  hillside,  and  nature's  sweetest  per- 
fume. Instead  of  the  unsightly  mounds  of  sand,  elegant  mon- 
uments have  been  reared  to  the  memory  of  the  good  and  great  by 
affectionate  hands  and  liberal  purses.  The  German-Americans 
have  honored  their  distinguished  poet,  Schiller,  by  perpetuating 
his  memory  in  bronze;    by  popular  subscription   Gen.    Grant  has 


View  of  the  Lincoln  Avenue  Engine  Eoom. 

been  immortalized  in  stone  and  metal  at  a  cost  of  $55,000;  the 
martyred  Lincoln  is  remembered  and  ennobled  by  a  monument 
costing  $40,000,  the  munificent  gift  of  the  lamented  Eli  Bates; 
the  late  Martin  Ryerson,  in  remembrance  of  the  Indians  found 
here  in  the  days  of  the  early  settlers,  has  contributed  a  monument 
known  as  the  "Alarm  Group,"  representing  an  Ottawa  Indian  and 
his  family,  at  a  cost  of  $20,000;  the  late  Samuel  Johnson  provided 
$10,000  in  his  will  for  a  monument  to  Shakespeare,  which  is  about 
to  be  erected;  citizens  of  Scandinavian  descent   headed  by  Robert 


L'S 


Lindblom,  are  preparing  to  rear  a  monument  to  Linnaeus,  one  of 
their  distinguished  scientists  and  scholars,  at  a  cost  of  $40,000,  and 
there  it  to  be  added  to  all  this  in  the  near  future  the  "Bates 
Fountain,'5  to  cost  $15,000,  which  was  also  the  gift  of  Eli  Bates. 
Then,  again,  there  has  grown  up  in  the  park  a  choice  collection  of 
wild  animals,  embracing  most  of  the  species  from  the  ground  hog 
to  the  elephant,  while  the  lakes  are  filled  with  fowl  at  once  attract- 
ive and  pleasing.  Most  of  the  animals  have  been  the  gift  of  indi- 
viduals, and  it  is  no  unusual  thing  for  excursion  parties  to  come 
from  long  distances  to  view  the  herds  of  buffalo,  to  see  the  climb- 
ing bears,  pet  the  patient  camels,  watch  the  tireless  sea  lions,  and 
witness  the  freaks  of  the  numerous  other  specimens  of  the  animal 
world  which  the  plains  and  the  forests  have  contributed. 

With   all   these  attractions,   and  many  more  that  could   be 
spoken  of,  is  it  at  all  singular  that  the  North  Chicago  cable  system 


As  It  Was. 


has  the  world  for  its  patrons?  And  since  the  horse  cars  have  given 
way  to  the  progress  of  time,  is  it  strange  that  as  the  facilities  for 
reaching  Lincoln  Park  have  increased,  the  number  of  visitors  has 
more  than  doubled  in  the  last  few  years  ?  It  is  estimated  that  the 
park  often  contains  as  many  as  50,000  people  at  a  time,  and  it  is 
almost  an  every  day  occurrence  that  half  that  number  of  men, 
women  and  children  are  finding  rest  and  comfort  within  its  limits. 
It  is  the  people's  park,  and  to  add  to  its  accessibility  the  company 
has  recently  connected  it  with  the  West  Side  by  a  line  of  cars  on 
North  avenue.  Still  another  line  brings  the  people  from  Lake 
View  and  the  north,  but  after  all  the  cable  system  is  the  great 
feeder,  and  without  it  this  ever  popular  resort,  attractive  as  it  is, 
would  be  next  to  deserted.  That  is,  without  the  cable  and  the 
facilities  of  transit  it  has  brought,  there  would  be  no    adequate 


29 

means  of  reaching  this  magnificent  North  Side  retreat,  and  strang- 
ers would  be  compelled  to  turn  from  the  thought  of  breathing  the 
pure  air  it  affords,  feasting  the  eye,  or  inhaling  the  fragrance  its 
flower-beds  give  out.  But  as  it  is,  it  has  been  made  as  convenient 
of  access  as  one's  private  garden,  and  while  the  railroad  company 
does  not  claim  any  special  credit  for  the  part  it  has  played,  for  it 
has  simply  done  its  duty  in  meeting  the  public  want,  yet  it  cannot 
refrain  from  congratulating  itself  that  its  interests  have  been  allied 
with  so  important  an  improvement  as  Lincoln  Park,  and  that  it 
has  been  able  by  increasing  the  transit  facilities  to  attract  so  much 
deserved  attention  to  the  North  Side.  At  a  casual  glance  the  park 
is  given  a  summer  character,  and  almost  any  one  would  say  that  it 
was  practically  closed  in  the  winter,  but  such  is  far  from  the  case, 
the  fact  being  that  with  the  rapid  transit  afforded,  it  is  fast  becom 


As  It  Is. 


ing  a  popular  resort  even  when  the  ground  is  covered  with  snow. 
Thousands  upon  thousands  go  there  in  the  winter  to  skate,  and 
from  the  fact  that  the  lakes  are  well  kept,  and  travel  is  rapid, 
comfortable  and  sure,  they  come  from  far  and  near.  Those  of 
leisure  go  in  the  day  time,  while  the  other  class  go  at  night,  and 
the  result  is  the  crowd  is  always  large,  and  winter  or  summer  the 
park  does  not  want  for  patrons,  nor  the  railroad  company  for  use 
for  its  cars.  The  principal  difference  between  summer  and  winter 
is  the  difference  in  the  classes.  The  Sunday  school  children  who 
picnic  in  the  summer  give  way  to  those  of  more  mature  age  in 
winter — the  lunch  basket  yields  to  the  skate  bag,  the  boats  to  the 
ice,  and  thus  it  is  that  the  park  is  a  constant  resort,  except  between 
seasons  when  nature  is  changing  its  raiment,  and  humanity  is 
waiting  for  the  inspiration  the  change  always  brings.     Winter  or 


30 


Slimmer,  therefore,  Lincoln  Park  is  never  waul  inn-  in  attendance, 
but  is  always  the  one  great  centre  of  attraction  for  both  residents 
and  visitors.  And  the  spot,  as  beautiful  as  it  is,  is  only  in  its 
infancy,  thanks  to  the  enterprise  and  .wisdom  of  those  in  charge  of 
it.  The  plans  have  already  been  perfected  for  a  boating  place 
along  the  Lake  Front,  where  sailing  and  steam  craft  will  vie  in 
speed  and  beauty,  and  later  on  it  Avould  not  be  surprising  to  see 
the  abutting  beach  transformed  into  one  of  the  most  desirable 
bathing  resorts  in  the  country. 


-*#*. 


.JNT^ 


APPENDIX. 


Taking  advantage  of  the  experience  of  the  several  railway 
enterprises  of  the  country  in  changing  systems,  and  promoting  the 
cause  of  rapid  transit,  it  may  not  be  amiss  in  this  connection  to 
state  that  in  a  comparatively  short  time  the  West  Division  of  the 
city  will  be  the  rival  of  both  the  North  and  South  Divisions,  and  in 
the  enjoyment  of  a  cable  system  which  promises  to  be  second  to 
none  in  the  world.  The  need  of  increased  and  rapid  transit 
facilities  for  that  section  of  the  city  was  early  appreciated  by  the 
West  Chicago  Street  Railroad  Company,  and  the  moment  it  came 
into  possession  of  the  lines  it  set  about  supplying  the  want. 
There  was  some  delay  in  getting  authority  from  the  city  council 
to  make  the  change,  but  this  was  very  natural,  especially  since 
counter  interests  were  opposing  the  improvement,  anfl  the  people 
were  in  the  course  of  being  educated  in  all  that  pertains  to  street 
transit  and  improved  railway  facilities. 

The  ordinances  as  passed  authorized  the  cabling  of  certain 
streets,  but  the  company  agreed  that  for  the  present  Madison  street 
and  Milwaukee  avenue  would  be  used,  they  being  main  arteries, 
and  then  again  for  the  reason  that  they  would  accommodate  and 
benefit  the  greatest  number  of  people.  The  work  of  getting  out 
the  necessary  material  was  at  once  commenced,  the  contracts  were 
let  for  the  machinery  and  power  houses,  and  in  the  meantime  rep- 
resentatives of  the  company  were  inspecting  similar  undertakings 
from  Maine  to  California.  The  object  of  examining  other  roads 
and  systems  was  to  take  advantage  of  any  and  all  improvements 
that  had  been  made,  the  idea  being  to  give  to  the  West  Side  a 
cable  system  perfect  in  construction  and  operation,  and  a  car  ser- 
vice without  fault,  and  hence  above  criticism.  And  the  company 
believes  it  will  more  than  succeed,  for  the  reason  that  neither  skill 
nor  money  has  been  spared  in  the  planning  and  execution  of  the 
work,  and  if  there  is  not  a  decided  boom  in  population  and  values 
on  the  West  Side  at  an  early  day,  it  will  not  be  chargeable  to  the 
West  Chicago  Street  Railroad  Company,  nor  to  the  want  of  enter- 
prise, liberality  and  energy  on  the  part  of  its  management.      The 


32 

tearing  up  of  the  streets  has  been  without  scarcely  a  hindrance, 
and  the  interruption  to  business,  about  which  there  was  consider- 
able anticipation,  has  not  been  worthy  of  mention.  To  the 
contrary,  the  work  has  been  done  in  a  business-like  way,  and 
on  every  hand  the  company  has  been  congratulated,  not  only  on 
the  character  of  the  improvement,  but  on  the  fact  that  it  has 
been  put  in  without  complaint  or  serious  public  inconvenience. 
These  two  lines  will  be  in  operation  at  the  earliest  possible  day, 
and  thereafter  the  work  of  extending  the  system  will  be  com- 
menced and  attention  will  be  given  the  feeding  and  cross-town 
lines.  It  is  in  contemplation  to  use  the  cable  where  it  is 
practicable,  but  where  it  is  not  the  present  idea  seems  to  be  to 
employ  other  available  power,  the  object  being  to  dispense  with 
the  use  of  horses  as  soon  as  possible,  and  at  the  same  time  sub- 
stitute therefor  a  power  which  will  give  rapid,  safe  and  uninter- 
rupted transit  to  the  residents,  present  and  prospective,  of  the 
great  West  Division. 


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